http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/free-range-egg-farms-fined-300000-for-misleading-shoppers-with-false-claims-20160415-go70cu.html
Shoppers who paid extra to "taste freedom" in their free range eggs were ripped off and misled, a court has found, with an egg business penalised to pay $300,000.
The Federal Court this week penalised Derodi and Holland Farms, which trade together as Free Range Egg Farms, for making false and misleading claims about their eggs in the three years to December 2014, including: "Our hens ... spend their days roaming lush grassy fields".
Their brands - Ecoeggs, Port Stephens and Field Fresh - are sold throughout Australia.
Evidence presented by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission showed some of the eggs came from a farm where hens did not venture outside until they were 14 months old, despite having laid eggs for nearly 10 months.
In another case, hens were shut inside for 240 days in a row. The defendants argued this was because of bad weather and the construction of a dam nearby.
Justice Edelman said the loss damage to both consumers and competitors was likely to be significant.
"The loss to consumers includes the price premium they paid to acquire eggs because they thought the eggs were free range, when those eggs were not. That premium is substantial," he said.
"The approximate premium for free range labelled eggs over 'barn laid' or 'cage free' eggs was between 50 cents and $3.88 per dozen."
The case focused on two NSW farms - Hutchison Farm in Booral and Sepos Farm in Allworth - which together supply a third of FREF's "free range" eggs.
At Sepos Farm, nearly 19,000 hens were squeezed into one barn, at about 10 hens per square metre. The four pop holes were opened between 12.30pm and 9pm, but kept closed a third of the year.
The hens were not given access to the free range until 90 per cent were laying eggs. When they were given access, they could only roam on half of the 5.2 hectares of open space available. Electric fencing was used to limit movement.
At Hutchison farm, the barns each held up to 16,500 hens, at about 10 hens per square metre. The hens could only access pop holes by walking up ramps - between 60cm to a metre off the ground - that were covered in rubber conveyor belting.
But the rubber became hot during warmer days and slippery in wet weather. The open ranges were 7.5 hectares at most, and lacked shade.
'Taste freedom'
FREF made misleading claims such as "taste freedom", "Ecoeggs are produced by hens thriving on lush improved pastures" and "resident hens spend the day roaming pastures in search of seeds and insects" on websites, social media and in a magazine advertisement.
A spokeswoman from FREF said it was disappointed by the court action and the fact it was never offered an option to mediate prior to costly legal proceedings.
She said FREF had made various changes and undertaken a thorough review of its packaging and marketing material.
"The ACCC's case was limited to one farm which FREF had ceased to work with before the proceedings were instituted and one single shed at another farm that was already in the process of substantially improving its practices," she said.
"In the agreed statement of facts, the ACCC also acknowledged and accepted the price structure for FREF's free range Ecoeggs was not solely based on the free range characteristics of the eggs, but also the nutritional enhancements due to the patented Omega 3 and vitamin enriched feed given to the hens."
Consumer advocacy group Choice says the Federal Court ruling shows consumers can't trust free-range egg labels in supermarkets.
"[They] had an opportunity to clean up this market. Instead they bowed to the requests of big industrial egg producers and locked in an information standard that will continue to rip off consumers, as 'free-range' hens can still be kept in cramped conditions with no guarantee they go outside," said Choice's Erin Turner.
Read more:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/free-range-egg-farms-fined-300000-for-misleading-shoppers-with-false-claims-20160415-go70cu.html 
